Air Deccan to offer one rupee tickets

No gimmick here, we are serious, says Captain
GR Gopinath

BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT

May 8:
Low-budget airline Air Deccan
is to sell a few
seats on its flights for as low as Re 1, that too
on busy flight routes like Bangalore-Delhi, and is
also planning to offer these low-priced tickets
over the Internet.

"Pricing of the Re 1 offer will soon be sorted out
and it would be offered via the Internet just like
the Rs 500-a-ticket 'Dynafare' offer," Deccan
Aviation, (holding company of Air Deccan) Managing
Director G R Gopinath said.

“This is no gimmick, each flight will have about
three seats that will be offered at Re 1 and that
to needy people," he said.

The ticket bookings will open about three months
in advance and can be made over the Internet or
through other delivery mechanisms of Air Deccan.

The tickets will be offered beginning at Re 1 for
a few seats, Rs 500 for another couple of seats,
Rs 1,000, Rs 2,000, Rs 2,500 and in that order
till upto Rs 6,000, which is the maximum on the
Bangalore-Delhi route.

Cartoonist RK Laxman, with whom the airline has
signed an agreement to use the `common man'
mascot, mooted the idea of the one rupee tiket.

Air Deccan is also exploring alternate channels to
ensure such tickets reach those who need it most.

“I would like the seat to go to, say, a retired
person in Bangalore, who might want to visit his
daughter in Delhi. But, on the Internet, I can’t
really stop people from buying a ticket,” Captain
Gopinath said.

Air Deccan's Dynafare offer, under which it is
selling a few seats for Rs 500 is popular on the
carrier’s Airbus routes, with the airline ferrying
over one lakh passengers since launch about 18
months ago. Air Deccan's Rs 500 ticket is also
selling like hot cakes over the Net.

On regular tickets, Air Deccan will be levying a
passenger security fee of Rs 221, which will be
passed on to the authorities.

Air Deccan has posted revenues of Rs 316 crore in
the fiscal ended March 31, 2005.